Walkers are commonly used by the elderly, the infirm and patients recovering from injuries and surgery for providing stability in walking. One type of walker is provided with wheels. For safety reasons, it is desirable to provide a hand operated wheel brake for wheeled walkers. A brake actuator includes a handle which, when squeezed, pulls on a cable to operate the brake. In some situations, it is desirable to provide two brake operating modes for a wheeled walker. In one type of known walker brake actuator, such as is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,279,180, the brake cable is progressively pulled to apply the brake as the handle is progressively squeezed towards a hand grip region on the walker. If the handle is pushed away from the hand grip, the cable is pulled until an abutment on the handle engages a housing abutment to lock the brake in an actuated position. Locking the brake can, for example, provide stability while the user is sitting down or is arising from a seated position. In some cases, a wheeled walker also is provided with a seat platform. It can be desirable to lock a wheel brake while a user is seated on the walker to prevent unintended rolling.
In addition to wheeled walkers, it is known that hand operated brakes in various types of vehicles such as bicycles, motorcycles and snowmobiles may be provided with a locked or park position. Exemplary hand operated brake actuators which include a locked position are shown, for example, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 735,113, 3,948,361 and 4,653,613.